The wait is finally over. At 7:57 eastern time, the Philadelphia Phillies will defend their crown against the 26-time champion New York Yankees. History is at stake in this series, as the Phillies look to become the first NL team to repeat since the Big Red Machine in the mid-70’s.

Cliff Lee is the man to start this thing up. Lee has been unstoppable in the playoffs thus far, sporting a sub-one ERA. He has pulled a Cole Hamels this postseason by putting the team on his back when it counts the most. Lee has two wins and just three walks against 20 strikeouts so far. In this all important Game 1, let’s see how Lee responds to the bright lights of the Bronx.

On the other side is 6’7″, 280-pound, C.C. Sabathia. He’s been just as unhittable as Lee, dominating both the Twins and Angels in his three starts this year. He’s 3-0 with an ERA of 1.19, proving that last years blowup against the Phillies in the NLDS with Milwaukee is in the past. With two lefties on the mound, we could be in for quite the duel.

Offensively, these teams are as close as they come. Both hit for ridiculous power, play in smallish parks, and boast the scariest lineup in their respective leagues. If your looking for a weakness on either side, keep searching. For New York, their defense is probably their Achillies heel, if there is one to choose. They don’t commit many errors, however, their outfielders have suspect arms and catcher Jorge Posada has a surgically repaired shoulder which could mean more Phillies running the bases.

The Phillies downfall is clearly the back end of their bullpen. Brad Lidge floundered through the regular season, but has since picked it up to record three saves and a win in the ’09 postseason. Lidge has not allowed a run yet either, and the same goes for Chad Durbin, who has seen action in five games without allowing a runner to score.

It’s a series that’s as evenly matched as they come. Forget about words – there is nothing left to predict or describe when it comes to the Phillies and Yankees. It’s all up to the players on the field as they battle for baseball immortality. Tonight, our National Pastime begins its 105th Fall Classic.

Your Gameday Beer – Victory Festbier
Phillies fans are ready to party and we’re ready for a victory so tonight’s beer is an easy pick. It also helps that it’s a Philly-area beer in the Marzen/Oktoberfest-style. This full-bodied brew retains an earthy taste to go along with its sweet caramel, toffee, and roasted malt flavors – perfect for the fall weather. Festbier goes well with German food, in which case I think a cheesesteak on a pretzel roll would qualify. – By Brian

Love the beer choice tonight, but I have been drinking it for the past 5 weeks straight. I bottled the leftovers from a keg. But tonight I am going with some Victory Whirlwind to sum up the season and Stoudt’s Gold.

Last year, right before the series, I had bought a 4 pack of Beamish Ale. And placed them in my fridge. After each win I drank one. I picked up a 4 pack yesterday. Let’s go Phils.

ObviosLEE we don’t have to CHASE the pennant any MOYER but we still have to figure out HOWARD going to bring another one home. We have to keep ROLLINS up the STAIRS because it’s WERTH yelling with our hands in the EYRE and hanging off the L…IDGE because it will all end in A VICTORINO in 2009. If they follow the MANUEL the PHILLIES fans will be HAPPy and we will RAUUUL…….Go Phillies!!!!

Ok so this may be a retarded question but I am supposed to go to a family dinner tomorrow night…dinner is at Outback Steakhouse…does anyone know if Outback has tv’s at their bars? This pretty much makes or breaks my decision.

Very annoying ab’s my Feliz/Ruiz/J-Roll/Shane. Make this guy throw pitches. What is so hard to understand about that. The Yankees middle relief is just about all righties and they’ve been very suspect.

Pat to answer your question, someone who is not a Phillies fan and someone who apparently does not care that I am one. The wife, being the sweet heart that she is gave me a free pass but I still feel like I should go. I hate having a conscience.

I thought the rain was supposed to stop after 6 and stay away…this better not put us in a rain delay. That would be very very bad.

Yeah Harry in regard to fence distance not bc they screwed up with the wind tunnels. Your bandbox is the 3rd smallest park while Yankee stadium is 9th with regard to average fence distance. So if you’re going to talk at least be an intelligent one. Thanks

I want 20 pushups from Rollins right now. What happened? We had his number the first, then since Utley popped one that just barely went out (meaning it would’ve been a fly ball elsewhere) we’ve gone down quietly. I don’t understand this.

J-Roll I love ya man, but somebody needs to go bleeping tell this guy that we in all likely hood won’t win this thing if he does not get on base. JC man! Stop trying to go yard all the damn time. Get the bleep on base!

@Ed R-I’d like if Pedro had a better bat, but at 3rd, I’d rather have his glove there than an average/below average fielder and a decent/good bat. Our offense is stacked enough that we don’t have to rely on offense from the 3rd base position. It’d be nice, but not necessary.

I used to teach English in Japan. And every now and then, a student would learn a new big word and use it constantly for a week. Like all of a sudden the one guy could not stop saying “occupation.” “My occupation is bus driver. What is your occupation? Do you like your occupation?”

Another Phall Classic. I LOVE IT! Most excited I’ve ever been in my life for baseball.

Phils up 2-0 in the 7th. I feel like we’re in a great position in this game. Lee looks like he’s picking up right where he left off (Hamels of ’09?). And Utley’s got that sweet stroke working again. I’ll be ecstatic if we take 1 out of 2 in the Bronx.

Cheeseburger Cheeseburger is done. Let’s tack on some insurance against Hughes! 😉

Rattle Hughes and we’re in the driver’s seat. Let’s get to the Yanks bullpen and show them who REALLY has something to worry about. Really sick of all the talk of our pitching being an issue; newsflash: every staff in the majors goes through struggles.

I hope Lee’s effective next inning, he’s gonna be cold as ice with all this stalling Girardi’s doing. Classic Torre tactic – take their best pitcher out of it with mound conferences, coach visits, and general stalling.

Lee actually is one of those rare pitchers who a little unaffected by pitch counts. Most pitchers rest in between starts. Lee actually throws. He only comes out of games for the most part when he is getting smoked. Whuch has not been all nite.

Wow. What a performance by Lee and Utley. The Phils sent a message tonight that they are not a team who was exhausted after an extra inning game the night before or a team that was just happy they finally beat their post season nemesis. This Phillies team is one that oozes confidence and who wanted to be in this exact position.

The Yankees will now have to live with this game for 24 hours. Giradi will be second guesses, A Rod will be questioned if he has returned to the A Rod of old in the post season, and the possibility of losing will enter their heads for the first time this offseason. If the Phillies can get to Burnett early tomorrow things are going to get REAL interesting with the Yankees using so much of their bullpen tonight.

I think the Yankees got knocked back bad tonight and you just know that Pedro Martinez would love to twist the dagger tomorrow.

Thanks for this win Philles! I gotta go defend my dissertation for my doctorate tomorrow and now I am going into it REAL happy!